Let’s bring this traditional fat back, and talk about beef tallow benefits.
Beef tallow benefits
It’s no mystery that I am a huge fan of grass fed tallow. I love how versatile tallow is, and how many things you can make with it. Soap, balm, salves, and the most delicious French fries ever. But what about tallow for our health?
Tallow, in my opinion, is the top dog in all of the cooking fats. Want to learn why and how to use it for your own family? Keep reading…
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What is tallow?
Beef tallow is rendered fat from the meat.
Think about when you cook some meat, the liquid that’s left in the pan that hardens as it cools – that is what tallow is. It is one of my favorite ingredients – and for good reason.
Ready to learn all about beef tallow and how it can help your family with all sorts of benefits? Keep reading…
Beef tallow uses
Beef tallow is an excellent ingredient because it can be used for so many things. Here are just a few:
- Cooking
- Soaps
- Lotions
- Salves and balms
- and more
For centuries, humans have utilized tallow to create essentials – and for good reason. No matter how many tallow alternatives I try, I always find myself coming back to tallow.
Tallow is simply the best. Keep scrolling to learn all about the amazing benefits of beef tallow…
Is tallow healthy?
In our great grandparents’ day, tallow was widely used. Traditionally, it was a very popular cooking fat. It has a very high smoke point, and adds wonderful flavor to foods. The saturated fat in tallow is what allows tallow to have such a high smoke point.
Wait a second, saturated fat? Isn’t that bad? Well, for a while, certain “experts” thought so. This is due to incomplete studies claiming that saturated fat causes heart disease. Sadly, this is still somewhat common thinking. The tide is changing, though!
Once this misinformation about animals fats became mainstream, tallow and other fats were replaced with things like canola and corn oil. To this day, there is no scientific evidence that saturated fat causes heart disease. However, there are a myriad of studies showing that industrial seed oils (like canola and corn oil) are extremely inflammatory and very damaging to our health (source).
Tallow, on the other hand, is a very healthy fat.
More and more people are starting realize this, which makes me very happy. That’s one of the reasons I like to talk about beef tallow benefits on my blog and YouTube channel. I want to help spread the word. I want more and more people to ditch toxic, inflammatory “vegetables” oils and embrace traditional animal fats again.
Beef tallow vs. coconut oil
When comparing beef tallow to coconut oil, it is important to mention the difference in saturated fat. Many are surprised to hear that coconut oil actually has a much higher amount of saturated fat than beef tallow.
While saturated fat isn’t necessarily a bad thing (as discussed earlier), it’s important to mention.
Another large difference between beef tallow and coconut oil is the flavoring. Because of what each fat is made from, their flavorings are going to be different. Coconut oil tends to have a sweet, coconut-y taste, while beef tallow is going to have a much more mild, beef-y taste to it.
Beef tallow vs. olive oil
Olive oil gets a lot of credit for being the healthy oil on the block. While this is true in the sense that it contains much less saturated fat, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it is ideal for cooking.
Compared to beef tallow, olive oil has a very low smoke point – meaning that it will burn easily when cooking with it. The fragile olive oil is better used in things like salad dressings, and not heated.
It may come as a surprise, but I barely have olive oil in my house because I have beef tallow.
Ready to learn the amazing benefits to beef tallow? Keep scrolling…
What are the benefits of beef tallow?
Before we jump into all the wonderful benefits of beef tallow, let’s make one thing clear. While all unrefined beef tallow is good, there is big difference in the nutrient content of grass fed tallow compared to tallow from conventionally raised beef (source).
All of the information I’ll be sharing applies to 100 % grass fed beef tallow.
Grass fed beef tallow is:
- abundant in conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) which has powerful anti-inflammatory properties
- rich in minerals
- full of fall soluble vitamins A, D, E, K, and B12
Tallow can be used as a wonderful cooking fat, and an ingredient in food. Some examples are French fries and pie crusts, but there are so many possibilities. When we eat tallow, we consume these nutrients. These nutrients can help support our immune systems, as well as many other body functions.
Health benefits
Eating healthy animal fats like tallow, duck fat, butter, etc. along with foods helps us to absorb and assimilate the vitamins in those foods. For example, eating vegetables that have been fried in tallow or have melted butter on them allows our bodies to better absorb and use the vitamins in the vegetables.
And I don’t know about you, but I definitely find my vegetables to be way tastier this way also!
Beef tallow benefits for skin
Healthy animals fats are also really important for brain, skin, gut, and hormone health. Just like when I’ve talked about why skin loves grass fed tallow, these same nutrients work to make us healthy on the inside when we eat tallow. The same regenerating and rebuilding activity takes place inside of us.
If you’re new to beef tallow benefits for skin, I wanted to quickly go over that as well. Basically, the nutrients and cell structure of tallow is extremely similar to our skin’s cell structure and the nutrients that our skin needs. Tallow provides the building blocks for rebuilding and repairing our skin. It’s perfect for healing, soothing, moisturizing, and replenishing skin.
Hopefully you’re starting to see why I love tallow so much! It is just so amazing.
Does beef tallow make you fat?
Despite the fact that beef tallow is a type of fat, it does not mean your body will store fat when you eat fats. On the contrary, weight gain is linked to toxicity and hormone imbalance (source). Eating healthy traditional fats can help the body actually lose weight as it supports healthy detox and hormonal balance.
I’ve cooked with tallow for many years in diverse, nutrient dense meals, and I have no problem with weight gain.
Is tallow healthier than butter?
The interesting thing about tallow is the chemical composition that it contains. With no trans fat and at 60% monounsaturated fat, tallow is considered as healthy as butter. That being said, there are some recipes where butter just makes more sense, like my favorite pancake recipe.
Does beef tallow oxidize?
When you are beginning to incorporate beef tallow into your recipes, it is important to keep in mind that certain cooking methods will oxidize the tallow somewhat. Frying and cooking at high temperatures will cause some oxidization.
I strain my tallow after frying in it and use it again and again. In order to keep it fresh, I keep it in the refrigerator.
How to store beef tallow
How you store your beef tallow is one of the most important parts to using your beef tallow in order to keep it healthy and tasting good.
Once it is at room temperature, beef tallow will solidify. If you want to keep it on your kitchen counter, it will last for several weeks, if not longer. This is as long as it is uncontaminated and does not have any water in it. Water in the tallow will cause it to mold.
My favorite storage container for tallow that I cook and fry with is a glass mason jar. Sometimes I will also store large chunks of tallow at room temperature with airflow around them.
How long does tallow last?
When it comes to storing tallow on the counter, it can last for several weeks or longer, as long as it is uncontaminated and does not have any water in it.
Tallow will keep for many months in the refrigerator, and indefinitely in the freezer.
This means that any tallow purchased when you buy meat from a cow, you will be able to have tallow stored anytime.
When you have a lot of mouths to feed, this is a good thing.
How do you make tallow?
Basically, you make tallow by rendering beef fat. Rendering just means that the beef fat is heated and melted. Tallow is what the beef fat turns into when it is melted. Once it is cool again, tallow is solid at room temperature.
Beef fat is also sometimes called suet. The type of fat used for making tallow can be any kind, but the best is the fat that surrounds the internal organs. The fat around the kidneys is called leaf fat, and it makes the nicest tallow.
Tallow recipes
Tallow Lip Balm with Honey Recipe
Are you a fan of tallow?
Do you use it for cooking? How about skin care? Share your favorite ways to use tallow in the comments!
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I’ve been making whipped tallow using grass fed fat…but not just suet. It was perfect for the first batch, and the whipped consistency is good, but after a day or two, it’s completely separated and essential oils are at the bottom of the jars. I’m using jojoba oil, olive oil and sweet almond oil, Any ideas why this is happening?
I have rendered my tallow 3 times on low in the crackpot bu i still has a smell to it. How can iet rid if that.
Thank you
Dawn
So if I buy beef tallow from say sprouts or Amazon does this work for the soaps and body butters and such?
Can I use beef fat that hasn’t been grass fed? How will this change its benefits? I have received a large amount and not sure how the cows were red.
Yes you can! 100% grass fed beef fat has the highest amount of nutrients, but if they were grain fed it’s still pretty good and worth using.
I have been making bone broth from grass fed beef soup bones. I noticed there is a lot of fact left on the top when I cool the broth so I usually save that fat for cooking. Would this fat be appropriate tallow For making Tallow balm? I’m wondering if the nutrients would be similar or better or worse?
Fat from making broth usually has too much water (and other flavors, smells, etc.) in it to make good balm. The best is to render raw beef fat for balm making. When I make broth, I just stir the fat back in when I reheat it 🙂
Why would you use the regular tallow rendering method at all? Wouldn’t you need the purified method for skin care products and even prefer it for food too because of the smell or taste? I’m curious. I saw another tallow rendering video in which the folks put water in on a stove too to prevent burning to the bottom of their pot. I just rendered tallow and watched their video and yours after. Mine did burn to the bottom. In your regular video you don’t add water though. So when would you not use the purifying method? In either method, do you use the fat after it’s rendered? The grissles?
The crockpot method (with no water and no purification) is for if you want a quick way to render and don’t mind a bit of beef smell. This is often fine for cooking. I do prefer the wet method with purification steps for both skincare and cooking, so I do all of mine that way. I feed the leftover bits from rendering to my chickens. They love it 🙂
As deer season approaches here in Oklahoma, I am wondering if the fat in venison can be used? When processing, I try to use everything I possibly can. I love how lean and healthy the meat is, which will mean there will not be much fat available, but there is some! We also harvest wild hog, which again is very lean compared to farmed. Can tallow be made from prom fat as well? Thank you in advance! I am so happy to have come upon your site!
Yes, you can render fat from venison and pork. The process will be the same 😊 You’re very welcome, and I’m so glad you’re here! 😊
Hi! Any chance you could send me or post the sources for all your information on the benefits of tallow? I’m doing some research on tallow in skin care products and am having trouble finding scientific articles on its benefits.
Any help appreciated!
Thanks 🙂 Nessa
That’s a great topic idea! I will let you know when I have it put together 😊
Thanks, Marisa! Any progress on it yet? I’m finishing up my research now and still looking for good scientific sources about tallow (and other animal fats) in skin care products. I would love to get any information you might already have, even if it’s not finished yet!
Thanks for checking in! It’s still on my to do list… things have been so busy, and I have a newborn. I am hoping to get to it soon! In the meantime, if you go to westonaprice.org and search for tallow, you will probably find what you’re looking for in the sources sited and linked. Hope that helps!
I have recently made some tallow cream with high quality grass fed tallow. I am finding that it has a roast meat smell that is off putting. I didn’t add as much essential oil as you recommend. Do you find that yours still smells of beef I you don’t add as much. I’m not sure if I’m doing it wrong or if the tallow is particularly beefy. It’s Tassie Tallow from Tasmania Australia- problem the best I could buy in the country. Amanda
Hello! I have found that the tallow gets a meaty smell if it gets too hot while rendering. I make sure that it doesn’t get too hot by adding some water while I render. I’m going to be sharing an updated blog post and video on how to render it with the wet method very soon. But basically, you add about a cup of water while rendering. I find this really helps, and the finished tallow has pretty much no smell at all. I hope that helps! Let me know if I can answer more questions! 🙂
But how do you remove the water so it doesn’t mold ?
Pour entire contents of crockpot, water and fat into a metal bowl,
put in fridge to harden into tallow,
the water will separate to the bottom and a beautiful tallow pie shaped disc will pop out. blot dry any water from the tallow disc.
Put the liquid tallow in the fridge. The water settles to the bottom and the solid tallow can be lifted out of the pan
U let it cool of completely after rendering. Than when u remove it, solid fat will be on top and water on a bottom. I render it atleast 3 times till its nice and clean, each time adding fresh water. Remove any impurities with knife if any left on bottom of tallow when its solid. Than I soften it and place it in a jars.